Remote file systems enable an application to access files stored on the same or remotely located computer using a pair of redirector components and a communication pathway such as a network. A client side redirector (accessible to an application desiring to write or retrieve a file) partitions a file data request into a set of smaller request packets to accommodate, for example, packet size limitations of the communication network. A server side redirector may be adapted to retrieve the requests over the network and communicate with a local file system to retrieve from or write to a data file.
Existing remote file systems can be inefficient in their handling of requests for retrieving data from a server or writing to the server. In particular, remote file systems may process data access requests received from a client in a random or non-sequential order (e.g., based on a non-contiguous memory address order). This may cause inefficient server disk activity that results in constant zeroing out of data for out-of-order write requests and/or excessive disk seeks for out-of-order read requests. This can tie up the server and increase server response time. In a system or network involving many clients and high data traffic, this inefficient remote file system may cause unacceptable delays in processing data requests.